DARK EARTH

RPG by MICROPROSEA Solution by Lu Richardson---------------------------General:The most difficult things in this game are fighting and not losing your bearings - you can easily get disoriented by the sudden changes of perspective as you go from one end of the screen to the other. Therefore, you must get used to them as soon as you can. Finding items is also rather difficult, and the only way you are not going to miss out is by standing in front of just about everything remotely promising and using the space bar. As ever in this type of game, the more trouble you take exploring carefully, the more you will get out of it: but see what I say on this subject further down.Although you should generally not carry a weapon equipped, since this makes people nervous, be quick to respond if you can see someoneis not going to be reasonable; i.e., equip a weapon and get into combat mode immediately. If you must kill someone, don't forget to search the body.Save the long gun and the flamethrower for the end of the game, if at all posible. If absolutely necessary, use the other guns. Ammo and boilers are incredibly hard to find, and you won't be able to finish the very last part of the game unless you have sufficient fire power.Another word about fighting. Because items which restore your energy points are very few indeed, try not to lose too many - if you do, it's well worth reloading your last saved game and have another go. This is why you must save so often.Mostly, you should try to talk everyone you meet, till they begin to repeat what they've already said.It would be too tedious to tell you to search everywhere, so do me a favour and investigate minutely each room as you come to it (again, see below). As well, look out for those panels on the walls which allow you to save and do so often. In fact, it is imperative in this game to save and find out where everything is so that you lose no time in covering each section; trust me on this. So, save, find out leisurely what to do and where the goodies are hidden, then reload and go for it. Giving directions in this game is rather fraught, because you've only got to walk a few paces and your left and your right might trade places. Still, I'll do my best and I sure you are all exceedingly bright and will understand that, roughly, right means the right side of the screen as you look at it, left the opposite side, up means to the top of the screen (unless, of course there are stairs clearly visible) and down to the bottom of the screen (again, unless there are stairs).One final word. Every time you play, things change slightly. You could go about the whole thing in a totally different way and in a different order, and you would get other results. This is only "a" solution and not "the" solution; be prepared for things not happening exactly as I describe them. I have no control over this.Here we go:The Upper City--------------The Calm Before the StormThe game starts one fine morning as you get out of bed. Talk to the girl. Pick up the meat on the table (keep it, you'll need it muchlater), investigate the room, pick up your sword and the uniform and make for the door. Zed is outside and he urges you to follow him. Do so and get plenty of practice fighting, both him and the girl. When you've had enough, go downstairs. There is an axe in the training grounds, by the way, in case you need it later. Weapons do break quite often, so collect as many as you can.Find the door with a guard in front and enter to see Dhorkan (he is the boss here), who will give you your orders. Leave and walk to the other end of the hall. Go downstairs; talk to the guys, find a flask and fill it from the cask at the foot of the stairs. Leave. As you come out you have a nice eyeview. There is the Temple to the N, the Builder's Palace to the E, the way to the Lower City to the S and you've just come W from the Tower. In the center courtyard, a well. Go to the Temple, where you will see two figures. As you approach, you overhear what they are saying. Enter the Temple and talk to your fellow guard. Presently, there will be a commotion and you will run into the room.Watch and, as soon as you can, fight. Watch some more.The Deadly InfectionYou wake up in the infirmary. Oh, dear. Before you have a chance to recover from the shock, a guard will attack you. Defend yourself and, at the end, take up his weapon. Thanadar, the local quack, will come in and talk to you. At the end of that conversation, use the panel to save your game. (A word of warning. From here on you will get sicker as time goes by - two black bars will rise alongside your red energy bar on the icon in the corner of the screen. It is absolutely essential that you don't waste any time. So, I repeat, save, do a trial run and then do it for real, one section at a time.)Go up, pick up the dagger and the before-flask and then come out and leave through the door to the right. Walk along here and enter the next door - this is Rylsadhar's house.

You'll find a flask around here. Also, note the locked door. Go further in and talk to Rylsadhar. Kalhi will come in. At the end of all the talking, pick up the parchment on the floor and examine it. Leave, go up the stairs and enter the Temple, go to the doors you were supposed to guard and walk in. These are the Council Chambers and you can check out the panels all around (but only on a test run). Walk to the other end of the room, up the stairs and enter the door on the left. There you will meet the Archivist. Talk to him. No sign of Rylsadhar. Go to the open book which can be read and read it. To the right of it, you will see a strange contraption. Use the parchment you found at Rylsadhar's and press the space bar - a drawer opens and you get a punchcard. In the stove by the door there is an important item, namely a "mirror". Equip anything you wish to know about and ask the Archivist. He is a mine of information. Leave; you might like to check the room next door, but don't do it in "real time" because it contains nothing right now and you can't afford to waste time.Down the stairs and out, move left and enter the next room. In front of a huge crystal you will notice a red hole in the ground. If you move on in, you'll meet a rather obnoxious Sunseer. Talk to him, then leave (on the other hand he might not be there - don't worry, it's not important).Walk around the contraption at the centre of the Temple's inner courtyard (looks like a complicated telescope) till you find the stairs up. Use the punched card in the slot, go down the stairs and pull the lever to the left. Marvellous. I don't know quite where that got us, but it does look impressive, you must admit.Leave here and go into the Tower. You'll meet old friends. Take their advice and go to see Dhorkan. Keep talking to the guard till he lets you in. Dhorkan doesn't seem too worried about your problems but he is suspicious of Thanandar. Come to that, so I am. Also of Dhorkan. Leave, go to your room and save. There is a guy in here you can talk to, but he doesn't have anything really interesting to say.Far it be from me to suggest you actually snitch on Thanandar, but you might find it instructive to go and see what he is doing, and I hope you have a strong stomach.Right, whether you follow Dhorkan's orders or not, now is the time to go towards the stairs that lead down and out to the Temple;but, instead of going down, go around them and through the doors to the right. Outside, go to the right. In this room here you can pick up some boilers (whatever they are) and some lead plaques. Going up the stairs, talk to the cowering Master Oiler and then pick up a key near a large book to the left. Leave and now, by equipping the key, you can open the trunk by the door and get a uniform. If you like.Go back into the Tower. Opposite your room there is a place where you can use the lead plaques in a furnace, to obtain bullets. There is also a trunk, which can be opened with the key, and which contains more lead plaques. Turn them into bullets. Go to your room and save the game - if you want to do any more exploring around here, now is the time to do so. You can always reload.You can go now back to the corridor outside and try the door to the left. This leads down to the jail. Equip a weapon and be ready to fight the jailer. When he is dead, pick up what he is carrying, i.e., a key. Ignore requests about bashing the bars and so on. Open the door to the right and go in. You find Kalhi and have a long conversation with her. When you leave, she will follow you. You might like to save before you go up the stairs.Head towards the Temple - as you come down the stairs, the guard at the door will attack you, so be ready to fight. When you've killed him, take his axe. Before you go through the door, and if your encounter didn't leave you half dead so that you might want to try again, use the panel to the right of the door to save your game. Out.Instead of going towards the Temple to the right, walk down and you will see a guard in a sort of bridge. As you approach him, Kalhi will make a suggestion. When the talking is over, equip a weapon and run right up close to the guard; start bashing straight away. He has a gun and you must not give him room to shoot. When you've killed him, pick up his gun. Move on and Kalhi will lead you down below and to her friend Danrys.The Lower City--------------Talk to Danrys and then get the pickaxe on the table to the left. Show her all your weapons and ask her to mend them. Follow her instructions. Leave and talk to Kubert. Search for a breastplate to the left. Practically opposite Danrys shop, to the right, there is a pile of junk and one of those panels with which you can save. Explore around here and move to the left of the screen, looking at Danrys' workshop as a point of reference. Talk to everyone you meet. When you find the merchant lady, swap your flagon for meat. Try other things, but hang on to the "mirror". Carry on. You'll find yourself crossing a bridge.Eventually you will hit the Nightclub. Talk to the lady outside. Later on, when she moves away, you'll be able to find a flagon on the heap of stuff to the left of her - it can be traded for meat. Go in and watch the show. At the end, talk to Maor - you can help yourself to the gourd on the table; also on this table, a plate which the merchant will swap for a vegetable. Go to the end of this room and up the stairs to talk to the dancer. In exchange for the "mirror" you got at the Library, she will give you the password to Sadak.Leave and continue exploring. Go right and save your game. You will come to a place where you can go left or right. Go left and enter the boat-shaped house. Go to the guy on the right. He is Sadak. If you give him one of your weapons and play him at a game suspiciously like Othello, and win, he will give you some info. This nearly drove me nuts and I nearly gave up at this time - I never was very good at Othello. Still, I won once by mistake. I can't imagine myself doing this again, so I'll have to go short of info. However, you might like to persevere - you'll soon collect weapons enough; just watch the four squares in the four corners. Keep clear of each group of them (unless, of course, you can land on the corner one) but try to occupy the edges - in order to win, you must occupy most of the four corner squares, all if possible. If you win three times, you'll get some flame-thrower ammo.Go to the other guy and have a chat. He invites you to replenish your gourds. Leave the "boat" and this time carry to the right - note the little platform over the water. Go through the arch and you will spot a house with a locked door, but there is a slot on it so that you evidently can go in if you have the wherewithal. Which you don't, right now. Carry on exploring and around this house and around again, you can get a jerrycan under some stairs. If you go up them you will meet with a hostile guard. Up to you, but you needn't do this just now.The SewersGo back to the platform and enter the water. Go under the arch and into the sewers. Arm yourself because you are about to meet two guards, one after the other. You then come to some stairs. When you go up and walk around them you will see another one of those panels to save the game. An excellent idea to do so. If you are low on energy, eat some meat. Go down the stairs and watch.At this point things get sticky and you'll wish you'd bought another game instead of this one. Arm yourself and fight the guy at the bottom of the stairs. If you came off reasonably well, go up the stairs and save again. Go down and to the left. Search the barrels - you'll find a handle around the middle bunch. You will have spied two guards, who will certainly spot you. Find a convenient place to fight them - I managed to corner them both to the left of the screen and survived, though I was feeling very sorry for myself at the end of it. If you have more meat, eat it. If not, hang around till your health points go up, or have another bash and hope you don't lose so many next time. Either way, don't be in too much of a hurry to go through the arch. Even if you are in pretty good shape, it is worth your while to go up the stairs and save again.Because what's waiting for you under that arch is none other than Sordos himself, and he packs quite a wallop. I made the mistake of going in while I was not myself (not knowing what to expect) and not only I found Sordos, but Thanandar as well. Of course, I bit the dust in no time at all. Do give it a good try, but if you find it too difficult to beat them both at once, you can do a spot of cheating.From your saved game, go back to the Infirmary; save before you go into the Operating Theatre and then fight the zombie guard and Thanandar and recover from his body two potions and a red key. Don't use the Thanandar Potion, you'll need it later. Go to the Temple and use the key on the hole on the ground. The crypt appears and you can go inside and use the white light to cure yourself a little. You can then go back to the sewers. Don't forget to save again when you get to the top of the stairs.This time, you'll meet Sordos on his own, and though he's no pushover, at least you are in with a chance. I only just made it, myself. Fortunately, I found a fish, a chicken leg and a piece of meat, so I was able to recover. Also, on searching Sordos body you find a key, which opens the box on the right - inside, a documentwith the pact between Sordos and Dorkhan (See? I knew it! I knew it!). On top of the throne (or on Sordos) there will be a diagram - if you take it to Darys he will make you a flame-throwing gun, provided you give her the handle you found amonst the barrels.Leave this room and go down to the bottom right half of the screen, and you will see a little bridge leading to another arch. Take my advice and save again. Come back and go in fighting (if there are two guys in there and you can't cope, go and do the bit with the red crystal key now, if you haven't done it already, and then come back. There will only be one enemy left). Kill the guy and get his key. If you go to the right, you will see a locked door. Save again, if you like. Equip the key, open the door and watch. You meet Zed and he spills the beans about Thanandar. Unfortunately, he turns into a horrible beast which had me flat on my face before I could say "Oh, bother!". Next time, though, I was prepared and killed it without too much trouble. Search the cell for some weapons.A Plot ExposedAt this point you can go and do things in different orders. You can go to the Temple and watch what happens or go to Dhorkan and beard him in his den. Best to go to Dhorkan's office first. Outside you will meet Phedoria. Show her the document and then you'll both rush in just in time to see Dhorkan do a bunk. She'll tell you to follow him. Search the desk twice, either side of the chair, to find a flask and a stiletto. Use the stiletto on the hole in the wall to open the secret door.Follow the passage till you get to the Lower City. Continue as though you were going to the boat house but this time turn right. You will catch a nasty trying to kill Kalhi. Defend her and search the guy's body for some nice stuff. It's no use, you've lost Dhorkan. If you now visit Sadak and tell him you killed Sardos, he will be very pleased; you'll have to play him again, though.Go back to the Temple and to the crypt. When you get there, watch what happens. At the end, go in and look inside. Look at the dead man. Leave. Outside, Lory and Phedoria. Lory asks you to follow her, so do so. Go and talk to her and she will give you the bow of a key. Keep talking to her till she has nothing else to say. Leave. As you are about to go out the door, she will tell you about the Master Builder. Go outside of the Temple and head to the right, to the Builder's Palace. A guard will challenge you. Kill him and step inside.The Crystal KeyPull the little lever on the right to go up. You will meet two guys, both of which fit the description given to you by Lory and neither will own up to being the Master Builder. Turn right and rummage around till you find a diagram. Cross to the left and use the diagram on the burner. The real Master Builder caves in. Talk to him and, when he asks for proof, show him the bow of the key. He will give you a crystal. Search the desk on the left for some flame-thrower ammo and then leave and head for the sewers.Go to the house with the slot by the door. Before you go under the arch, arm yourself and enter combat mode. Go in and you will see Dhorkan. Fight him and kill him. Recover everything he is carrying. One of these items is a strange plate - use that on the slot. Go in and search around, to the top right of the door, and you will find an object. Leave.Turn to your right and go up the stairs. When you get to the panel, save. Carry on along here and you'll see a dead guard. Keep moving and you will see a fight going on. Now, this is very tricky. You have to wade in and fight the baddy without hurting the goody. You'll find that if you can land a good blow on the darker figure, the other guy will remove itself. While fighting the baddy, try and corner him on the left hand side of the screen, otherwise you might hit the other fellow by mistake. If you get it all wrong, or if you lose too many energy points, reload and start again. When you are successful, talk to the guy you've saved. Keep talking to him till he gives you something, and then some more till he has nothing else to say. He gave me a helmet, but I ended up with a heavy suit - may be the helmet welded itself to the armourplate I was carrying plus the before-flask. Very strange. At any rate, you can leave now and go to Danrys.Show him the strange object and he will send you to Bogdaran. Go up the lift and head for the Tower. Enter and you will overhear a conversation. Save on the panel by the door. Arm yourself and be ready to run in and crowd the guard, who has a gun. Kill him quickly and get the gun. Go up the stairs and find your way to Bogdaran. On the way, pick up some boilers. When you get to him, equip the strange item - but if you try to talk to him, he cowers away. Get into combat mode and pop him one. Just one will do, don't get over-enthusiastic. Now he is ready to talk. Give him the strange item and he tells you to come back. Go downstairs and up again, and he'll ask you to fetch Delia to him. You have no choice. Go back to the Lower City.The Dark TakeoverAs you come into the Nightclub, head directly to Delia's room. Talk to her and she'll agree to come with you. Arm yourself. As you come out Maor gets tough with you. Fight him and kill him. Now guide Delia to Bogdaran, though personally I shouldn't like to be seen around with anyone so scantily dressed. Plus she could catch her death of ammonia.When you get to the Upper City, you will see a dying guard amongst a horrible mess. Talk to him. You have been warned. Go to the Tower and use the save panel. If you can't kill the beast hand to hand, reload, equip the gun, advance slowly and shoot until it's dead. Collect Delia and carry on upstairs. There is a tender reunion, then talk to Bogdaran, who has mended the item and warns you not to let it near water. Well, guess where we are going next. See if some flame-thrower ammo has materialized on the shelves before you leave.Head for the sewers. As you pass the Nightclub, it might be worth your while to go in and find the meat behind the bar. There is also a bowl here and another plate sometimes appears on the table. Not much use to you now. Carry on to the sewers. When you get to the top of the stairs, save your game. If you go to the place where poor old Zed got his, you might find a guard imprisoned. Fight the jailer and free the guard using the stiletto on the lock. That's your good deed for the day.In Deep WaterOK, back to the save panel. You will notice there is a small ladder going into the water. Use the metal suit and press the space bar to go down. Equip a weapon immediately. Walk down and be on the look out because, as soon as the perspective changes and you are going up, a monster will attack you. Best to change to combat mode and walk backwards till it appears. Kill it. Carry on till you spy some arches. Follow through here. Eventually you'll come to some stairs going up. You come out on an island. You automatically remove your diving gear - equip a weapon immediately and fight the beast who will attack you. You will see another monster to the left of the screen. Run to it in combat mode, and bash away at once. Walk to the right and you will enter shallow water. Walk to the top and to the left and you will come to a cave entrance. Go in.Wander around here till you find some stairs. You might even find a nasty snake in the water - it's best to shoot it with one of the small guns, preferably not Zed's gun. Coming up the stairs you will come to another entrance and you will meet the woman everyone has been telling you about. Have a long chat with her. Over her fireplace there is one of those panels for saving. Leave and find three fairly visible bluish rocks, right where you shot the snake. Use Danrys pickaxe on it to get a crystal splinter. Enter the water and use it twice to improve your state (bear in mind that this will diminish your energy points, so if they are very low you could die). Now you can leave the cave and go all the way to Danrys.However, as you cross the bridge, be prepared because you are going to be attacked by a very large beast indeed. Save at the pile of junk before you advance. Now go to Danrys, show him the key and give him the crystal. He will make you a key. Go to Rylsadhar's house but, as you come down the stairs, you will be met by two guards; wait till the one on the right comes right upclose before you attack. The other will wait his turn, so try not to involve him in the fight yet. Go into the house and open the door with the key. When you get in look at everything carefully. You'll find some notes and some drawings. Get into aggresive mode (press the tab key) and use the telescope. You'll find a large key.Leave and go to the well in the centre courtyard. You could go into the temple and find that Lory and Phedora have been killed, but that the Archivist is doing fine. However, the price for this is fighting another nasty beast on the way out.The TombFind the lock of the grate at the well and use the large key on it. Use the strange object in the open well and back off. There is a tremendous explosion. Walk around the hole and you'll find a staff with a blade broken off. The missing bit is at the foot of the stairs to the Infirmary. Bring it back and use it on the staff. Now change to aggresive mode and, walking to the foot of the staff, use it. You jump in and go all the way to the bottom.Down there, walk to the left through two doors - the last one will close behind you. You also need a haircut. If you walk to the right you will find a panel for saving your game. Now go back to the door and, to the left and right of it there are some symbols and bars and, to the right of the right hand side ones, a lever. Examine the drawings and read the notes you got from the secret room. You will be able to identify some of the symbols. The others, you'll have to guess. The notes "explain" the mantra. You are supposed to quote this mantra by moving the bars to the correct symbol and then you have to pull the vertical lever on the right. Starting on the left hand side of the door: first bar from the left down, the other two up. On the right hand side of the door, starting from the left: first bar up, second bar down and third bar up. Pull the lever to the right. This opens the door which closed behind you. Go and save your game then go through it.I can only conclude from the next section that the programmers are terminal sadists. After putting us through this game denying us food and ammo, not letting us wait to recover energy points because we get sick, and throwing no end of hostile people and monsters at us, now this.You will get an bird's eye view of a maze, over which deadly spinning blades travel at speed and will kill you instantly if you come anywhere near them. And you have to come near them. You will see from the layout that your safest route is following the right hand side of the character. Enter into aggresive mode and press the space bar to crouch and observe the movement of the blades. Press the space bar again to advance a few steps at a time, when it is safe - wait and pick your moment.Because of the perspective, it is very difficult to judge where the openings are and whether you are going to be hit or not. After getting killed time and again in the same point of the maze, and having to start right from the beginning again, my patience wore rather thin. If there is something I really, really, really HATE is arcade sequences in a RPG game.Eventually, you will make it to the other side of the maze and you will find a panel with which to save. Equip the flame-thrower or the gun, if you've saved up the ammo. Change to combat mode. Go up the stairs, but watch the last spinning blade, it can hit you still.When you get through, watch the scene. At the end, shoot Thanandar till he drops. You won't be able to kill him, but while he's stunned, run to the right till you come to the door. You will see that there are two levers to push - the one to the right is kind ofsticking out. Push it to make a light come on. Move away from it. You will probably be attacked by Thanandar before you get much further. Keep shooting him and pushing the levers; and do it quickly. When the three lights are lit on both sides, the door will open and you can go on to watch the grand finale. If you can complete this the toughest of all the tough bits in this game, you will have earned a complete rest in a Sanatorium for Nervous Wrecks.